Abstract

Actual business process activities are done in virtual space by teams that are building, exploiting an adequate collaborative environment. This is defined mainly by the specific information and communication technology (ICT) enabled by Internet/Extranet/Intranet. The ICT tools functionalities have been developed to better satisfy virtual teams requirements related to knowledge management activities. In this context, this article presents a brief state-of-the-art of virtual teams’ definitions and characteristics that reinforce them with efficiency-effectiveness. Foreword, because of the large variety of ICT tools available to support virtual collaboration, the authors proposed an approach for the decision making process of choosing the adequate software solution based on the particular needs and requirement determined by the collaborative environment specificity. Assisting this, there will be analyzed the specific software tool’s main functionalities that are correlated with the virtual teams requirements. This is the main step for the decision making process approach definition in order to choose the adequate software solution, using ELECTRE method (decision under conditions of certainty).

Introduction

It was already recognized by Gartner group (www.gartner.com) that in 2004, more than 60% of professional workforces in the Global 2000 Company work in virtual teams. By 2003, half of existing virtual teams fail to meet either strategic or operational objectives due to the inability to manage distributed workforce (Kanawattanachai & Yoo, 2002). Today, organizations of all types build-up and encourage the development of virtual teams for better attend their global objectives and interests, as acting in the global economy. The changes in human resources management field and particularly in group working specificity (mainly based on Internet facilities and knowledge management) have underlined the importance of virtual teams (created by the organization extension boundaries) for the global business management. Virtual teams and work performance (efficiency and effectiveness) are strongly supported by the information and communication facilities implemented and used. Furthermore, the required functionalities of the information and communication applications have been define in order to support and automate t knowledge management activities as: knowledge sharing, transfer, acquisition, integration and archive.
Specialists, researcher all over the world have recognized that information and communication technologies are vital for the support of virtual teams, and the definitions of virtual teams have underlined this fact. According to Townsend et al. (1998), virtual teams are groups of geographically and/or organizationally dispersed co-workers that are assembled using a combination of telecommunications and information technologies to accomplish an organizational task. Other approach recognizes that VIRTUAL TEAMS are groups of geographically and/or temporally dispersed individuals brought together via information and telecommunication technologies (Piccoli & Ives, 2003).
In the same context, Gassmann and Von Zedtwitz (2003) defined virtual team as a group of people (sub-teams) that interact with independent tasks guided by a common goal and work through strengthened links to information, communication and transportation technologies. Other definition suggests that virtual teams are working teams whose members are geographically dispersed and coordinates work mainly through electronic information and communication technologies (Hertel et al., 2005).
Ale Ebrahim et al. (2009) have a are more explicit virtual team definition, recognizing that virtual teams are small temporary groups of geographically, organizationally and/or time dispersed knowledge workers who coordinate their work predominantly with electronic information and communication technologies in order to accomplish one or more organization tasks.
Therefore, references underline that virtual teams have the same problems as traditional teams, but they are confront with new challenges. at the same time, virtual teams have the potential to achieve further gains in work processes (mainly collaborative) and provide high quality solutions by meeting, gathering people with different knowledge, expertise in order to generate a high rate of added value (Draghici et al., 2008).
Based on references in the field of virtual teams’ development and management (Draghici, 2007a; (Draghici, 2007b), Figure 1 presents the synthesis of the most important aspects that have to take into consideration for building, development and managing high-performing (with high levels of efficiency and effectiveness) virtual teams.

Introduction to the Research Tools Mind MapResearch World, Vol. 10, No. 4, pp. 1-3,Nader Ale Ebrahim Department of Engineering Design and Manufacture, Faculty of Engineering, University of MalayaResearch Support Unit, Centre of Research Services, Institute of Research Management and Monitoring (IPPP), University of Malaya Date Posted: June 17, 2013 Accepted Paper Series35 downloads

Great Virtual Teams: Rule 1: Exploit Diversity

Do you want to know how Social Media can be used to boost project success?
Do you?
We already know the answer for a couple of years. But not everyone is looking for it in the right direction.

Virtual teams.

In 2004 the Harvard Business Review published a great article by Ann Majchrzak, Arvind Malhotra, Jeffrey Stamps and Jessica Lipnack: “Can Absence Make A Team Grow Stronger”. (remember my video interview with Jesscia Lipnack?)
The article describes three rules to create successful virtual teams:
Rule 1: Exploit Diversity
Rule 2: Use Technology to Simulate Reality
Rule 3: Hold The Team Together
Although the authors don’t use the word “Social Media”, this technology fits like a glove to their research findings.
In the next couple of posts I will explain the 3 rules.

Rule 1: Exploit Diversity

Every single person is different. Put people from all over the world, different professions and different age categories in a team, and your team’s diversity will increase. With virtual teams, this diversity will probably be larger than with collocated teams.
Diversity creates different viewpoints, different ways of problem solving, other ways of looking at the world in general.

This clash of perspectives produces creative solutions.

To be able to exploit diversity in a constructive way, people have to get to know each other a little better. Build trust and respect by sharing their backgrounds, expertise and reputation.
The authors of the article see a role for conference calls in this area. These calls must be carefully planned and be real “can’t miss” events. By explaining their own Meyer-Briggs-indicator, people tell other team members about aspects of their personality.
Another cool way to share backgrounds and interests was mentioned to me by Andy Meyer: for each meeting, a person will prepare their own lifeline introduction or select an article that they believe is particularly interesting.
Make use of your teams diversity.
But you really have to work for it. It’s not going to happen all by itself.

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Bas is a writer who draws. About people in transition. He loves to make visual maps, travel guides and other storytelling structures for the collaborators of our brave new world. He lives in Zandvoort, The Netherlands.

This paper presents the results of empirical research conducted during March to September 2009. The study focused on the influence of virtual research and development (R&D) teams within Malaysian manufacturing small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). The specific objective of the study is better understanding of the application of collaborative technologies in business, to find the effective factors to assist SMEs to remain competitive in the future. The paper stresses to find an answer for a question “Is there any relationship between company size, Internet connection facility and virtuality?”. The survey data shows SMEs are now technologically capable of performing the virtual collaborative team, but the infrastructure usage is less. SMEs now have the necessary technology to begin the implementation process of collaboration tools to reduce research and development (R&D) time, costs and increase productivity. So, the manager of R&D should take the potentials of virtual teams into account.

Technology Use in the Virtual R&D Teams

Abstract

Problem statement: Although, literature proves the importance of the technology role in the effectiveness of virtual Research and Development (R&D) teams for new product development. However, the factors that make technology construct in a virtual R&D team are still ambiguous. The manager of virtual R&D teams for new product development does not know which type of technology should be used. Approach: To address the gap and answer the question, the study presents a set of factors that make a technology construct. The proposed construct modified by finding of the field survey (N = 240). We empirically examine the relationship between construct and its factors by employing the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). A measurement model built base on the 19 preliminary factors that extracted from literature review. The result shows 10 factors out of 19 factors maintaining to make technology construct. Results: These 10 technology factors can be grouped into two constructs namely Web base communication and Web base data sharing. The findings can help new product development managers of enterprises to concentrate in the main factors for leading an effective virtual R&D team. In addition, it provides a guideline for software developers as well. Conclusion: The second and third generation technologies are now more suitable for developing new products through virtual R&D teams.

This paper presents the results of empirical research conducted during March to September 2009. The study focused on the influence of virtual research and development (R&D) teams within Malaysian manufacturing small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). The specific objective of the study is better understanding of the application of collaborative technologies in business, to find the effective factors to assist SMEs to remain competitive in the future. The paper stresses to find an answer for a question “Is there any relationship between company size, Internet connection facility and virtuality?”. The survey data shows SMEs are now technologically capable of performing the virtual collaborative team, but the infrastructure usage is less. SMEs now have the necessary technology to begin the implementation process of collaboration tools to reduce research and development (R&D) time, costs and increase productivity. So, the manager of R&D should take the potentials of virtual teams into account.

A Comparison between Two Main Academic Literature Collections: Web of Science and Scopus Databases

Abstract

Nowadays, the world’s scientific community has been publishing an enormous number of papers in different scientific fields. In such environment, it is essential to know which databases are equally efficient and objective for literature searches. It seems that two most extensive databases are Web of Science and Scopus. Besides searching the literature, these two databases used to rank journals in terms of their productivity and the total citations received to indicate the journals impact, prestige or influence. This article attempts to provide a comprehensive comparison of these databases to answer frequent questions which researchers ask, such as: How Web of Science and Scopus are different? In which aspects these two databases are similar? Or, if the researchers are forced to choose one of them, which one should they prefer? For answering these questions, these two databases will be compared based on their qualitative and quantitative characteristics.

Do Criticisms Overcome the Praises of Journal Impact Factor?

Abstract

Journal impact factor (IF) as a gauge of influence and impact of a particular journal comparing with other journals in the same area of research, reports the mean number of citations to the published articles in particular journal. Although, IF attracts more attention and being used more frequently than other measures, it has been subjected to criticisms, which overcome the advantages of IF. Critically, extensive use of IF may result in destroying editorial and researchers’ behaviour, which could compromise the quality of scientific articles. Therefore, it is the time of the timeliness and importance of a new invention of journal ranking techniques beyond the journal impact factor.

At present, the existing literature shows that the factors which influence the effectiveness of virtual teams for new product development are still ambiguous. To address this problem, a research design was developed, which includes detailed literature review, preliminary model and field survey. From literature review, the factors which influence the effectiveness of virtual teams are identified and these factors are modified using a field survey. The relationship between knowledge workers (people), process and technology in virtual teams is explored in this study. The results of the study suggest that technology and process are tightly correlated and need to be considered early in virtual teams. The use of software as a service, web solution, report generator and tracking system should be incorporated for effectiveness virtual teams.

The number of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), especially those involved with research and development (R&D) programs and employed virtual teams to create the greatest competitive advantage from limited labor are increasing. Global and localized virtual R&D teams are believed to have high potential for the growth of SMEs. Due to the fast-growing complexity of new products coupled with new emerging opportunities of virtual teams, a collaborative approach is believed to be the future trend. This research explores the effectiveness of virtuality in SMEs' virtual R&D teams. Online questionnaires were emailed to Malaysian manufacturing SMEs and 74 usable questionnaires were received, representing a 20.8 percent return rate. In order to avoid biases which may result from pre-suggested answers, a series of open-ended questions were retrieved from the experts. This study was focused on analyzing an open-ended question, whereby four main themes were extracted from the experts' recommendations regarding the effectiveness of virtual teams for the growth and performance of SMEs. The findings of this study would be useful to product design managers of SMEs in order to realize the key advantages and significance of virtual R&D teams during the new product development (NPD) process. This is turn, leads to increased effectiveness in new product development's procedure.

Ale Ebrahim, N., Ahmed, S., and Taha, Z. (2010), SMEs; Virtual research and development (R&D) teams and new product development: A literature review International Journal of the Physical Sciences, 5, 916-930.

Denscombe, M. (2006), Web-Based Questionnaires and the Mode Effect: An Evaluation Based on Completion Rates and Data Contents of Near-Identical Questionnaires Delivered in Different Modes, Social Science Computer Review, 24, 246-254.

Gassmann, O. and KEUPP, M. M. (2007), The competitive advantage of early and rapidly internationalising SMEs in the biotechnology industry: A knowledge-based view. Journal of World Business, 42, 350-366.

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About Me

Nader Ale Ebrahim has
a Technology Management PhD degree from the Department of Engineering
Design and Manufacture, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya
(UM), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He holds a Master of Science in the
mechanical engineering from University of Tehran, Iran.